新闻稿

Shangri-La Hotel, Toronto is abuzz with the addition of a custom bee wall installation in collaboration with Birks

2015年8月27日

August 27, 2015 – Honeybees are checking in on the third floor Garden
Terrace this summer. The hotel is pleased to introduce a new Bee Wall
installation in partnership with Birks, Canada’s leading jeweller, and Alvéole, a
Montreal based organization that promotes and assists with beehive
installation, maintenance and honey extraction.

Since the late 1990s, concerns about colony collapse disorder in
North American beehives have been growing. The Bee Wall installation addition
to the third floor Garden Terrace will not only aid the community by providing plenty
of bees to pollinate downtown area gardens and parks; the honey harvested will also
provide the culinary team led by Executive Chef Damon Campbell and the pastry
team led by Pastry Chef Kate Siegel with local and sustainable honey for use in
the hotel’s kitchen and food and beverage outlets.

“We’re delighted to be collaborating with our valued partner, Birks,
on this important initiative,” said Richard Cooke, general manager of
Shangri-La Hotel, Toronto. “We believe strongly in sustainability, being
environmentally responsible and using locally sourced ingredients and we look
forward to offering guests inventive new dishes featuring our very own home harvested
honey.”

“Bees pollinate the plants that provide one out of every three bites
of food we eat”, says Vice President, Marketing and Communications Eva Hartling
of Birks Group Inc. “We are thrilled to partner with Shangri-La Hotel, Toronto
to further raise awareness about their disappearance building on Birks’ overall
initiatives to support this important cause.”

Since last year, Birks has been actively
supporting the preservation and protection of
honey bees. The organization has helped raise awareness around this
environmental issue through various initiatives such as the introduction of bee
themed jewellery collections, a partnership with the Honey Bee Research Centre
at the University of Guelph and an urban beekeeping installation surrounded by
a suspended green roof at its flagship boutique in Montreal.

The new Shangri-La Hotel, Toronto and Birks Bee Wall
is made of wax that the bees secrete themselves. Over the season, guests will
be able to see through glass the development of this Bee Wall built by the
bees. It contains roughly 50,000 honeybees, and is
anticipated to yield approximately 20 kilos of honey by this winter.

Chef Campbell and his culinary team will create a feature tasting
menu using the homemade honey that will debut in late November in Bosk
restaurant. Additionally, the hotel’s Lobby Lounge will offer custom cocktails
with honey as an ingredient, and the pastry team will add a honey High Tea menu
option to the daily High Tea offering. Further, guests wanting to “sweeten”
their taste buds will be able to purchase jars of home harvested honey to take home with them. Also
available, guests can treat themselves to a honey and wine body wrap at the
Miraj Hammam Spa by Caudalie.